Ayub Medical Teaching Institution Abbottabad has become part of the global research for COVID-19 treatment.

The hospital is expected to start clinical trials
for the treatment of the virus using chloroquine, a medicine which is commonly
used to treat malaria.

Reports had emerged that chloroquine helps with COVID-19 treatment. This, however, has yet to be proven. Many researchers are conducting trials across the globe to find out if the medicine works on those suffering from the novel coronavirus.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States,
has approved the research and has granted the hospital the permission to hold clinical
trials.

The research will be conducted by Dr Umer Farooq,
the dean of the institution.

He said that there is no treatment for COVID-19 yet because of which different researches are being conducted. There was some evidence in China that chloroquine, which is cheap and easily available, helped in the treatment process. “We are just going to test if the medicine really helps or not,” he remarked.

Explaining the process for the clinical trials, he said that they will form three groups of patients. One group will only be given chloroquine, the second will be given chloroquine and erythromycin, while the third group will be treated using traditional ways.

“We will ensure that no person with cardiac disease participates in the trials,” he said, adding that all patients will be properly monitored and they will stop the use of medicine if anyone shows side effects.

“This can prove to be a game changer if the trials are proven to be successful,” the doctor added. He even advised the people to not take any medicines unless their doctor tells them to.